Todd Starnes prowls the nation for Fox News looking for things to outrage the Fox viewer base. Here's Starnes's latest outrage:
HGTV: Use American Flag as Table Cloth
HGTV viewers are expressing outrage after the network suggested they use American flags as table cloths for Fourth of July celebrations. Many viewers called it offensive, un-American and an insult to the American military....
The HGTV website featured a segment titled, "Classic Fourth of July Table Setting Ideas."The photographs show bowls of fruit and a jar of lemonade sitting atop Old Glory. They called the flag an "unconventional table" linen.
"Drape a large American flag over the table as a bright and festive table runner," HGTV suggested. "Use a nylon flag so spills can be easily wiped off and the flag can later be hung with pride on a flag pole."
On Wednesday HGTV removed a link to the page and issued an apology.
"This was a regrettable use of our flag and it never should have happened," HGTV said in a statement to Fox News. "We sincerely apologize and have removed the post from our website. We want to assure our fans that HGTV is proud of the American flag and everything it symbolizes for our people." ...
Did HGTV go way over the line? If so, then a lot of folks are also way over the line.
Pottery Barn:
Belvedere's, a bar in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania:
A South Carolina blogger who posted this photo under the heading "Memorial Day Proud":
(If I'm reading the post correctly, the woman who decorated her table this way did so in honor of her two sons in the Navy.)
Here's a photo of an American flag tablecloth in a campground. Here's another Memorial Day-themed blog post showing a flag tablecloth said to have been purchased from Kohls (the URL of the blog post refers to this as a "patriotic tablescape"). Here are some American flag placemats, at BedBathStore.com. Here are American flag clip-on weights to hold your outdoor tablecloth in place, from RVPartsCenter.com. Here's a Canadian flag tablecloth.
Are people violating the rules for proper display of the American flag when they put it on a table? Maybe they are, and maybe that offends a lot of people who love the flag and the country -- but it sure looks as if the violators love the flag and the country, too. And the companies that recommend this are also suggesting it as a way of showing
So chill the hell out, please. And that especially goes for you, Todd Starnes. I'm sure you're not really going to run out of subjects for your Two Minutes' Hates if you limit yourself to people who actually disagree with you about whether America is a great country.
